Number of the Day: 8.7 percent

School suspension is a timeworn but ineffective discipline method that can be a predictor of whether a child will eventually drop out of school, according to The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. The center studied suspension rates across the country for the school year 209-2010, and found that New Jersey had a 8.7 percent higher rate of suspension for black students than white. However, that ranked New Jersey fairly well, as it was 29th on the list of states ranked by gap percentage. Illinois, with a 21.3 percent gap, fared worst in the report.

During the year studied, New Jersey students were suspended at least once at the following rates: Blacks, 12 percent; Latinos, 6.6 percent; Whites, 3.3 percent; and Asian-Americans, 1 percent — for a total of 5.5 percent of all children. About 75 percent of New Jersey districts were included in the study.

Nationally, 17 percent, or one out of every six black children, were suspended at least once. The rate was 7 percent for Latinos, 5 percent for whites, and 2 percent for Asians.